2024 garden season
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Flowering Time
Plants have evolved differing flowering times that occur throughout the growing season to decrease competition for pollinators and to provide pollinators with a constant supply of food. From the first hints of warmth in late winter through spring and summer, until last call in autumn, flowering plants are available to their pollinators providing pollen and nectar in exchange for the pollination service.
Pretty much everything needs some type of pollinator to produce fruit. Some things are wind pollinated like corn. I pretty much see stuff on blossoms right up until frost. There are a few things that don't need a bug to produce fruit like greenhouse grown cucumbers.
Beans are self pollinating, mostly, with rare crosses caused by insects.
A lack of water at critical times can effect pollination.
Tomato flowers are self pollinated before the flower even opens.
A lack of water at critical times can effect pollination.
Tomato flowers are self pollinated before the flower even opens.
Well I got a couple eggplants in the greenhouse that bloomed a bunch and NEVER did put on fruit!!! Door is open and insects can go in but never did. The ones planted in the row made a few fruits. Just not a garden year!!
I am going to disagree with you on this. While Tomatoes do contan both reproductive parts and can self pollinate, Bees are the primary pollinators. With the absence of bees, a gentile breeze or a light shaking of the tomatoe plant will cause pollen to move from the anther to the stigma or can be pollinated by hand by simply giving the plant a light shake, or by using a small brush or cotton swab if you are wanting to cross pollinate two different varities to make your own hybrid. I often give my tomtoe plants a light shake to help with pollination, and will do the same thing with my sweet corn by just walking thru the rows and shaking the corn stalks after tasseling. Of course, I aint growing a large acreage of corn or tomatoes, so my pollination takes minimal efforts.
Good read on tomatoes pollination using bumble bees. I believe my neighbor does something like this in his tomato high tunnel.
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ent-0092
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ent-0092
I knew bumble bees seemed to always be on my tomatoe blooms, I didnt know that other bees did so little for tomatoe plants. Neighbors have honey bees and I see them when the corn is in tassel, but I also see bumble bees in my corn, but now that I think about it, I dont see many honey bees around my tomatoes or peppers. Something I will try to observe next season.
See an occasional honey bee on the peppers. Never noticed any on the tomatoes. Yes lots of honey bees on the sweet corn. Got stung a few times by yellow jackets sitting on the silk of sweet corn when picking. Not sure why they are there.
Got another good mix from the patch the other day. Kept the pablano and the other varieties of green peppers that aren’t turning red off to the side. Started a batch of hot sauce with everything else and all the red jalapeños I had from before. Wife wanted to know what that sauce was going to be like? I said I dunno, kitchen sink hot sauce, I just threw everything in it that wasn’t green.
I don't see many bumble bees, but there are lots of carpenter bees always in the garden and they really love the Ocoee flowers.
Tomato plants are still doing well...
Lots of honey bees in the next patch of sweet corn when I checked it a few minutes ago. Heading out to pick some sweet frying peppers and will look to see what bees are in those plants.
Trying to get ready for next year. I have got to come up with a way, beside shooting, to keep the deer from eating everything up. Blasted varmits where even beside my carport eating the wifes hostas last night. Anyways, I want to make a larger container garden on the lot beside my house. I have water and power there and have already installed a couple of raised beds. filled the raised beds with horse poop, but will be mixing it with some topsoil. I want to come up with some sort of fenceing to keep the deer at bay. I am thinking about using some of the cheap black netting attached to T post and adding a strand of electric around the top. I dont want a permanate type of fence asI fixed the lot up to rent for RV's, and just havent tried to rent it, but might in the future. My plans for the container garden will be using the raised beds, as well as the large tater pots I already have and adding the extra large tree containers my son brought to me a couple days ago. I think he brought about a doz or so and said he had 30 or 40 more. I want to plant onions, garlic, beans, squash, taters, in the pots, and maters and peppers in the raised beds. I just got to find a source of decent dirt to fill the pots, I dont have enough chicken poop compost to fill more than one or two pots and I hate buying bags of compost and top soil at Lowes or Walmart. Of course if I dont fix the deer problem it will all be for nothing.
My buddy swears by this for keeping the deer out. Watch walmart for clearance sales on dirt.
Dont work, I must have zombie deer, vampire teeth and eat everything.
Finally! First picking of the year. Got them in late (3rd planting) A little over 2 gallons.
My trellis is 7' tall and these vines are about 2' longer. And thick! Next year I'll plant 6" apart.
The crouder peas are doing great this year. I'll have to trellis them next year. They're spilling over into the beans and climbing that trellis. Rest of the garden is in sad shape. Okra only 1-2' high.
My trellis is 7' tall and these vines are about 2' longer. And thick! Next year I'll plant 6" apart.
The crouder peas are doing great this year. I'll have to trellis them next year. They're spilling over into the beans and climbing that trellis. Rest of the garden is in sad shape. Okra only 1-2' high.
use the orange plastic fence for deer they tell me ! BUT deer are color blind!!
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